Israel is ready to redouble its efforts to resolve its dispute with Lebanon over the delimitation of their Mediterranean territorial seas, but it will not accept Beirut's terms of discussion, according to its energy minister.
The US-mediated negotiations began a year ago in an attempt to resolve the issue, which has stymied exploration in the potentially gas-rich area. In May, the talks came to a halt.
This month, US special envoy Amos Hochstein will visit both nations to try to re-energize the negotiations, precisely as Lebanon is seeking clarifications from the international community after Israel awarded an offshore drilling contract to US oilfield services firm Halliburton.
In a Reuters interview in Paris, Israel's Karine Elharrar said, "We need to look for a solution that leads to a break through and not try to think in the old ways of drawing lines." She added that she will speak with Hochstein soon.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun stated at the end of the May discussions that there should be no preconditions. He rejected the US mediator's proposal that negotiations take place on the basis of Israeli and Lebanese borderlines that have previously been filed and registered with the UN.
“We started (negotiations) by one line and then they (Lebanon) pushed the line. Pushing and pushing the lines literally,” Elharrar said. “It’s not the way to have a negotiation. They cannot dictate the lines.”
Earlier talks had come to a halt as each party submitted opposing maps depicting suggested borders that actually widened the disputed territory.
Israel currently extracts natural gas from vast offshore resources. Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, as it has yet to discover commercial gas deposits in its own waters.
“We share a gas field and have to find a solution on how to use it so that each side will have its share of it in a fairway,” she said. “We are willing to give it another shot.”
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